Microsoft Cloud: Office 365, Windows Intune & Windows Azure

Getting to know Office 365 closer I have learned a few things about Microsoft's cloud offerings here and there, including Windows Intune and Windows Azure as well as Office 365. Starting today I'm gonna start writing blog entries about what I learn on a daily basis, share the knowledge sort of thing.

I'm gonna start presenting on these technologies as well, so, if you need me to come present sometime, please email, or call me and I'll be there. All I ask of you is to bring people and an internet connection.

I'll probably concentrate on Office 365 for the next few blog posts, but then I'll start mixing and matching as we go along.

To start with let me first guide you to where you can get more details on each product:

1. Office 365 www.office365.com
2. Windows Intune www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/windowsintune
3. Windows Azure www.windowsazure.com

If you don't know much about any of these, don't worry, we'll cover each with detail.

Yes, I still Bing as my main search engine, I use Windows 8, I have a Windows Phone 8 mobile, the lovely Nokia Lumia 920 and my sons love their Surface RT!!

Windows Phone Camp - 25th May 2012

Broadcasting live on MAY 25th from Istanbul, Turkey (in English) is the Middle East & Africa Windows Phone Camp!

A Windows Phone camp is a free event where you can learn everything you need to know to develop and publish a Windows Phone application. This event will be both an in person and online event broadcasted across the region. Day 1 will include a VIP keynote and technical sessions covering Windows Phone development. Day 2 will be “hands-on” with the opportunity to roll up your sleeves and code – put your learning to work and build that app you’ve been dreaming about! Please note that only Day 1 will be broadcasted online.

Whether you’re a student just starting out or a seasoned developer for Windows Phone, Android, Symbian, Web OS or iOS, we’ll share tips and tricks and all-around Windows Phone development know-how throughout the two days. There will be sessions for start-up companies as well.

To read more about the event, go here.

To watch, go to the event site, or stay tuned on May 25th for another post with the live player.

Join the conversation with the event organizers and attendees #windowsphonecamp

 

Windows Marketplace and Microsoft Marketing

I was sitting with a dear friend, and we were talking about the new Windows Phone 7,  and the how it compares with the competition (iPhone, Android and Blackberry; notice no mention of Nokia here), and the Apple App Marketplace was mentioned, then my friend suddenly asks: why doesn’t Microsoft have a Windows Marketplace, that would be a great idea?

My immediate reaction was; what the … ?! Microsoft does have a Windows Marketplace and has had one for quite a while now. When I told my friend this he asked, well, why doesn’t Microsoft market this place? Why did I never hear of it before?

To tell you the truth, his was a good question, and it took me some time to realize this; Microsoft really doesn’t market a lot of its work well, doesn’t it? I mean, I grew up hearing the words “Microsoft is nothing but a great big marketing machine” and “the marketing people at Microsoft created this image” and stuff like that, to the point where I started to believe it was true.

But it really isn’t true, not to this point anyway. Microsoft does have a big advertising budget, but IMHO that is only targeted to products it can sell, products like Windows, Office, SharePoint and Windows Phone 7. A lot of other products go unnoticed, simply because nobody knew they even existed. I mean, up until I told everybody, nobody knew Microsoft had their own free antivirus product you can install i.e. Microsoft Security Essentials; operative word is free here.

Other things Microsoft does that go unnoticed are success stories, did you know that MySpace uses SQL Server? As a matter of fact, 440 SQL instances, yes, four-hundred-and-forty instances. Not only that, the total data managed by SQL Server is a whopping 1 petabyte (1 petabyte = 1024 Terrabytes = 1,048,576 Gigabytes), with 130 million users, 300,000 new users every day and 4.4 million concurrent users at peak time. Try that on for scalability and stability!!

Back to the Microsoft Marketplace, not only does Microsoft have a marketplace for Windows, it has one for Office, Mobile and Xbox. Yes, that is correct, four! And here they are:

• Windows Marketplace
• Windows Phone Marketplace
• Microsoft Office Marketplace
• Xbox Marketplace

So you see, Microsoft really is a changed company, and not all for the worse either. What do you think?

Links:

• http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/
• http://www.microsoft.com/casestudies/Case_Study_Detail.aspx?CaseStudyID=4000004532
• http://www.windowsmarketplace.com/
• http://marketplace.windowsphone.com/Default.aspx
• http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/marketplace/
• http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-US/

Microsoft Live Mesh

Ok. I just read about this on some blog. Microsoft's "Live Mesh is an ambitious initiative — a combination of a platform and a service" or "a Software + Services platform for synchronization and collaboration" or simply "I think it’s being able to interact with your data anywhere you go across a number of devices"

'Nuff said. Click on the links to find more!

Unfortunately, there's a waiting list to try it out. I'll try and see if I can pull some MVP muscle to get it.

Awesome!

Links:

• http://content.zdnet.com/2346-12558_22-198563-1.html
• http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=1355&tag=nl.e539
• http://blogs.zdnet.com/Stewart/?p=821&tag=nl.e539
• https://www.mesh.com/

The Year of the Mobile!!

That's it! Its official! I'm calling 2007 the year of the mobile!

First Apple announce their upcoming iPhone, then Nokia announces their new E90 Communicator. Then i-mate announces their Ultimate range. And the cherry on top off the cake, Microsoft announces their new Windows Mobile 6.

There's a Windows Mobile 6 Pro Video 1st Look that shows some of the new things in WM6, which I think should be called WM5.5 instead, because the enhancement are NOT worth a major version upgrade (I do, however, think you should upgrade your mobile device should you be given the chance). Here's the unofficial "What's new in Windows Mobile 6".

The things I like most are (in random order):

• Vista effects: almost everything looks like everything in Vista.
• Enhanced security: you can encrypt the contents of your storage card.
• HTML email support: no more that ugly text.
• Enhanced Office Support: office documents look almost as good as on the pc.
• Windows update!!!!
• Internet sharing!!!!

For those developers out there here's the 'What's New for Developers in Windows Mobile 6' and finally another 'Review of Windows Mobile 6 - Codename Crossbow'.

Links (for those of you who like to copy & paste):

• http://www.apple.com/iphone/
• http://www.engadget.com/2007/02/12/nokias-e90-communicator-launched/
• http://www.clubimate.com/ultimate/default.htm
• http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/6/default.mspx
• http://www.mobilitysite.com/2007/02/windows_mobile_6_pro_video_1st_look.php
• http://www.bostonpocketpc.com/whats+new+in+windows+mobile+6.aspx
• http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb278115.aspx
• http://www.mobile-review.com/pda/articles/wm-crossbow-en.shtml

Enjoy!!

Nokia E90 Communicator

Oh... my... god!!!

That is the first thing that came out my mouth when I saw Nokia's upcoming new communicator. I've always been a sucker for gadgets; I don't go for everything, I have a budget to keep.

My favorite gifts have always been gadgets, any gadget whatsoever. My wife knows this of course, that's why she got me an i-mate JasJam for my birthday last.

Nokia have a very good offering here with a 3.2 mega pixel camera, 3G support and integrated GPS!! Alas, no Windows Mobile.

Check it out http://www.engadget.com/2007/02/12/nokias-e90-communicator-launched/.